and i picked up none of that from romney, no kind of anxiety, no nervousness. he looked very measured like someone who is going to stay the course, stay on message. he talked a lot about the debate, and that's a chance for the american people to kind of see his message and also for him to show what he says is some false attacks by the president. he had some pretty harsh words for the president, too, and his campaign. take a listen to that. >> this is a campaign not about character assassination, even though i think that's what's come from the obama camp, by and large. >> reporter: character assassination? >> yeah. >> has the obama campaign engaged in character assassination? >> sure. i think they try and completely misrepresent my point of view as well as the reason i'm in the race. i think fundamentally the american people are interested in who's going to make their lives bet per >> the president and romney were both in ohio yesterday, and today they're in another swing state at the same time, virginia. they're both campaigning there today as they're kind of g